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Shou had been ignoring his father since the minute he got back. Which was indeed only an hour ago. He sat at the kitchen island, on one of those tall stools, scrolling through his phone with his feet up on the counter. He tried to occasionally shoot his father a disinterested look but every time he looked over at him, his father wasn’t paying attention. An awkward thing, when he himself was the one trying to pull off looking bored of his company.
30 minutes after his father’s arrival, and complete silence between the two, Touichirou began to pack up clothes again. Bringing out shampoo bottles from the bathroom, and fresh towels from the cabinet, he packed his suitcase with fresh supplies, traversing the house with his usual, never-changing emotionless demeanour.
It took Shou a while to realise what his father was actually doing. A thrill of fear flood through him.
Touichirou has been gone for 6 months, and Shou had pined for him every day since he left. Sleeping in his bed everynight, and crying when he started to notice his father’s scent fading from the sheets.
Shou got up out of seat and walked over to the middle of the foyer where his dad was finishing up packing, zipping up the last of his bags.
“What, you’re leaving again?” Shou asked, trying his best to sound indifferent but having to look up at his father to try attempt make eye contact with their height difference.
“Yes.” Touichirou stated, not looking up from what he was doing.
Shou felt himself trembling, his careless teenager act slipping through the cracks.
“But you just got back.”
“Yes.”
Touichirou pulled up the handle of his suitcase, and adjusted his tie and cuffs. He turned on his heel and headed for the front door, not sparing a single glance at Shou.
Tears welled up in Shou’s eyes and his breathing became erratic, staring at the tall form of his father walking away from him. Shou stepped forward suddenly, whole body quivering.
“Daddy, please don’t go!”
The words were blurted out before Shou could even stop himself, so full of emotion and desperation. He made a mortified little yelp at once, stunned by what he just said. He felt like a 5 year old again. A child, even though technically 14 was still definitely a child. Tears gushed forward and he didn’t think he’d ever looked this vulnerable in front of his father.
The tone of his voice was so broken.
Touichirou stopped in his tracks. Standing motionless with his back to Shou. A still silence filled the air around them, both of them standing rigid in their place for what felt like an eternity.
Shou looked down at the ground, defeated, letting more tears fall forth. He was waiting for the front door to close. Then he would allow himself to fully crumple. To collapse onto the hard tile floor and wail. To cry himself to sleep.
After no sounds of movement, Shou looked up again. Touchirou stared back at him, fully facing him now. Shou saw something he’d never seen before glint in his father’s eyes. He wondered if it was rage. His father was always well reserved even when scolding him, and maybe Shou had nicked a vain and would be facing a side of his father that he was sure he would never have wanted to see in the first place.
Shou couldn’t suppress a whimper of fear.
Then it happened. So fast Shou didn’t even register how.
Touichirou took 4 long strides across the foyer before he had Shou up in his arms, clutched to his chest while he buried his face in the boy’s neck.
Shou let out a high pitched gasp, the foreign feeling or his father’s long arms encircling his small form feeling like a dream. Shou stood in shock for a few moments, processing what was happening. Then once his senses came back, so did his feelings.
Pain, anger, loneliness, need, love. So much love.
He let out a choked sob as his father’s scent enveloped him. He had gone without it for so long and memories of sleeping in his father’s bed for the first few months of his departure flashed through his mind.
“Daddy” He whimpered.
Touichirou only clutched him tighter, breathing the scent of his boy as well.
He pressed his mouth to Shou’s neck, under his jaw, feeling the soft pale skin against his lips.
“My precious little boy.” He whispered huskily, emotion laced with his tone.
Shou continued to let out a series of soft cries and hiccups. His cries only seemed to get worse at his fathers words.
“Don’t cry. Shh, don’t cry.” Touichirou crooned at his ear, weaving his fingers in through the boy’s soft red locks and kissing his temple.
He rocked him gently in his arms.
“Please stay. Please, please stay.” Shou begged, hiding his face in Touichirou’s chest, hating how weak and small he felt.
Touichirou caught Shou’s chin in between his finger and thumb and tilted his head up to meet his child’s sky blue eyes.
Shou’s breathing hitched at the intensity of his father’s gaze but then melted when he seen the adoration and warmth there. Again, something he doesn’t think he’s seen in years, or even ever.
“Okay.” Touichirou whispered before pressing his lips to Shou’s forehead.